Individual Artist Fellowship

This program has been made possible by the Jersey City Arts & Cultural Trust Fund. You can learn more about the fund by CLICKING HERE or HERE (JC Office of Cultural Affairs)

For more info on previous awardees, please CLICK HERE

Applications for the 2025 Fellowship will open January 10.

Fellowship Guidelines

The goal of the Individual Artist Fellowship program is to provide residents of Jersey City who are exploring a career in the arts with an unrestricted grant to support and supplement their creative output over the year. Awards recognize exceptional creative work and the impact and engagement of the artist within the local community. Application link is at the bottom of this page - please read all the Fellowship Guidelines before applying. The Individual Artist Fellowship is supported through the Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund.

Please note: In the spirit of distributing the Arts and Culture Trust Fund grant money equitably and widely across the city, artists who are also leaders of arts organizations must choose to apply for only one Arts and Culture Trust Fund grant in each cycle, either an organizational grant or an individual artist fellowship grant.

Have questions about the Fellowship?

Check out our Video Walk-Through of the Guidelines and Application.
Application Open Office Hours and Info Session Dates will be announced soon.
You can also check out work from last year’s Individual Artist Fellowship and Program Grant recipients.

Award Amount

JCAC will award up to twenty grants of $5,000 each.

Eligibility

Applicants must meet all of the requirements below:

A resident of Jersey City
At least 18 years old
Not enrolled as a full-time student
An artist creating new work during the grant period
Expecting to maintain residency in Jersey City during the award period. Applicants will be asked to submit proof of residency as part of the application.

Once an artist has been selected for an award they cannot apply for another Individual Artist Fellowship for at least two years.

Application Deadline

Completed applications must be submitted no later than 5pm on February 18, 2025 Grant period is from July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026.

Application Requirements

Proof of Residency
Grants are only available to residents of Jersey City. Applicants will be required to submit a Proof of Residency. This can be a scan or photo of your driver's license, photo ID, current lease, rent or mortgage statement. If none of these are available, another household bill with your name and address will be acceptable. Make sure name and address are clearly visible in your upload. Please upload as PDF or jpeg.

Artist Statement
Your Artist Statement should be a brief written description of your artwork that details your choice of media, personal history, and themes addressed in your work in order to convey a deeper understanding and appreciation of your creative intentions. 200 word max.

Community Impact Statement
Your Community Impact Statement should describe how you participate in, contribute to, and are impacted by Jersey City and the larger arts community. 300 word max.

Fellowship Impact Statement
Your Fellowship Impact Statement should describe how this grant would impact your creative work. 300 word max.

Direct Public Benefit
Recipients of an Individual Artist Fellowship must include a Direct Public Benefit in their application that will provide a free public benefit through their art. Please note: the Direct Public Benefit must be FREE to any resident of Jersey City. The Direct Public Benefit may be unique to each applicant depending on their work and artistic discipline. Applicants are encouraged to be creative in how best their work can engage with and provide free arts opportunities to the residents of Jersey City. An application’s Direct Public Benefit could include (but is not limited to): gallery shows; film viewings (in person or free web link); theater, music or dance performances; online digital portfolio; creative arts classes, studio tours, or workshops. 300 word max.

Artist Work Samples
Applicants may submit up to five samples of their own work. All work must have been completed within the last five years. Work sample files should not be larger than 10MB - if you must submit a larger file, please post it to a publicly-accessible website and submit a PDF file with a link to each sample. Samples can be excerpts from larger works. Work sample options can vary widely depending on the artist's medium, but options include:
- Photos and Digital Images: Clearly labeled hi-res images of the applicant’s work. Acceptable file formats include jpeg and PDF.
- Word Documents: Literary samples should not exceed 20 pages of text in total. Can be an excerpt from a longer piece or a collection of pieces. Please save and submit word documents as PDF files.
- Audio and Video Recordings: Please upload your samples to YouTube, Vimeo, or other publicly-accessible internet sources, then submit a PDF doc with URL links to each sample.
- Other: If you require work samples to be submitted in another format, please contact us to discuss options: jerseycityartscouncil@gmail.com.

Review Process

Applicants will be scored on artistic value as well as their impact and engagement within the local community by a Fellowship Review Panel, representing a diverse group of artists, arts professionals, and community activists (selected from relevant applicants of the JC ACT Grant Review Panel). The JCAC board of directors will review scores from the Fellowship Review Panel and make final recommendations for awards. Awardees will represent a broad range of artistic disciplines, and will show diversity across race, gender, and the wards of Jersey City.

Follow-up Reporting

Grantees are required to submit a follow-up report that provides an overview of the Direct Public Benefit of their grant, plus lists of all shows, performances, or other public presentations of their artwork during the grant cycle. Accompanying photos, videos, or testimonials from the Direct Public Benefit and other projects completed during the grant cycle should also be included to help provide understanding of the impact of the grant. Grantees will also be asked for a brief overview of how their grant funds were used. (Note: the Individual Artist Fellowship is an unrestricted grant and grantees may determine how best to use funds toward their artistic pursuit. JCAC collects info on how grant funds were used in order to better advocate for resources for our arts community.)